GERMANY GEAR

A subsequent flurry of goals from Per Mertesacker, Jerome Boateng and Benedikt Howedes, plus a late hat-trick from goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, put something of a gloss on the scoreline – although one German player felt unable to join in with the celebrations.

“Obviously it’s great we won the game, but it feels ever so slightly hollow“, said Mesut Ozil, who missed a great chance late on, and early on, and several times in between.

“It’s nice to see Thomas, Miroslav, Toni, Sami, Andre, Bastian, Mats, Philipp, Julian, Per, Jerome, Benedikt and Manuel celebrating so much,” the Arsenal man told FourFourTwo. “I’m happy for Thomas, Miroslav, Toni, Sami, Andreas, Bastian, Mats, Phillip, Julian, Per, Jerome, Benedikt and Manuel. They all deserve their goals. Though if I’m being completely honest, it would have been nice for me to have scored a goal too.

“It’s like Buzzfeed leaving me off that ‘Top 10 Members Of Germany’s Starting XI’ list,” he continued. “I’m not complaining, I just can’t help but feel a tiny bit disappointed, you know?”

Ozil was also the only player to finish the game with no assists, had his name spelled wrong on a giant cake celebrating the result, and was left out of Angela Merkel’s congratulatory tweet “for reasons of space”.

Domestic reaction to the game has been mixed. Germany have been criticised at home for the inefficient way they scored five more goals than was necessary, while Brazil’s players will attempt to make amends for the defeat by being fired from a cannon at the sun.